outer wall slides
back, and gives access to a passage cut through the arch across St.
Lawrence Lane and so to the Moot Hall."

"There's one man here who knows all this!" whispered Tansley in Brent's
ear. "Look at Krevin Crood!"

Krevin was smiling. There was something unusually cynical in his smile,
but it conveyed more than cynical amusement to Brent. There was in it
the suggestion of assurance--Krevin, decided Brent, had something up
his sleeve.

But the other people present were still intent on the old antiquary.
Having come to the end of his explanation he was passing back the chart
to Meeking, and seemed satisfied with what he had said. Meeking,
however, wanted more.

"To the Moot Hall!" he repeated. "Well, Dr. Pellery, and where does this
passage emerge in the Moot Hall?"

"Just so," said Dr. Pellery. "That, of course, is important. Well, the
wall or arch between St. Lawrence tower and the Moot Hall, on reaching
the outer wall of the latter, is continued within, from that outer wall
along the right-hand side of the corridor off which the extremely
ancient chamber known as the Mayor's Parlour is situated. If close
examination is made of that wall you will find that it is eight feet
thick. But it is not a solid wall. The secret passage I have mentioned
runs through it, to a point half-way along the length of the Mayor's
Parlour. And access to the Mayor's Parlour is had by a secret door in
the old panelling of that chamber--just as in the case of the chamber in
the church tower."

"You investigated all this yourself, Dr. Pellery?"

"Discovered and investigated it."

"And kept the secret to yourself?"

"I did. I saw no reason for communicating it to anyone."

"However, as you discovered it, it was not impossible that others should
make the same discovery?"

"It is very evident that somebody has discovered it!" replied the
witness with emphasis.

"Now, you say that it is about twenty years since you made this
discovery. Have you been in St. Lawrence tower since?"

"Yes. Superintendent Hawthwaite has been in communication with
me--privately--about this matter for some little time. I came to
Hathelsborough yesterday, and in the afternoon he and I visited the
tower and I showed him the secret way and the doors in the panelling. We
passed from the tower into the Mayor's Parlour--as you or anyone may,
just now, if you know the secret of the sliding panels."

"Is it what you would call a difficult secret?